onservation is messy. Conservation is complicated. Conservation is really, really difficult. But if we are to avoid mass extinction, conservation, most of all, is necessary. Beginning next Tuesday, Mongabay will…
Researchers at Michigan State University wanted to determine whether or not programs that compensate local communities monetarily for their active participation in conservation efforts really works. Their study, the results…
As the turn of the twentieth century loomed, a horrific drought swept through China. Nearly 700 kilometers of the Huang He, or Yellow River, the second longest in the country,…
There was a moment during the harvest season in 2012, after a devastating drought crushed the Midwest breadbasket, when it became apparent in the glance of an eye that Dave…
The Norwegian government has fulfilled its billion dollar commitment to Brazil for the South American country's success in reducing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. In a statement issued Wednesday, Norway…
Part 3 of 5 of a series on palm oil financing. Part I and Part II. Note: this article draws heavily from Seymour el al 2015. Rainforest canopy seen from…
Brazilian rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Click to enlarge. A new campaign is calling on consumers to directly support forest conservation with their wallets. "Stand For Trees" is an…
Forests like this rainforest in Borneo provide an array of 'ecosystem services' including carbon storage, flood and erosion control, transpiration, climate moderation, and biodiversity, among others. Forest Trends, a non-profit…
Map of REDDX countries. Only a small fraction of the $7.3 billion pledged under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) program has actually been disbursed, find a new…
Norway pledges $300 million if Peru tackles deforestation crisis by 2021 From the Andes to the Amazon, Peru houses some of the world's most spectacular forests. Proud and culturally-diverse indigenous…
Brazil can protect and restore Mata Atlântica for 6.5 percent of what it spends on agricultural subsidies Want to save the world's most imperiled biodiversity hotspot? You just need a…
Rainforest in Sumatra. Photos by Rhett Butler The U.S. government will put financial support behind an initiative that offers finance for emissions-reducing forest conservation projects. In an announcement made during…
Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q & A with Dr. Neil David Burgess Rural scene in Tanzania. Photo by: Nika Levikov. After years of discovering new species and setting up…
Cumulative deforestation and population growth. Courtesy of UNREDD Investing $30 billion a year in forest conservation — less than seven percent of the $480 billion spent annually on fossil fuels…
Advocates for reduced impact logging in tropical forests often make a case that better forest management cuts carbon emissions relative to traditional forms of timber harvesting. While the argument for…
Deforestation in Riau Province, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. An ambitious plan to save the world's tropical forests by valuing them for the carbon the store may fail to…
Much of what we know about patterns of biodiversity has come from extensive fieldwork, with expert researchers sampling and identifying species in a process that takes thousands of man-hours. But…
Rainforest in Sabah. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Negotiators in Warsaw have reached formal agreement on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), a program that aims to compensate tropical…
Mongabay.org, a non-profit that aims to raise awareness about social and environmental issues relating to tropical forests and other ecosystems, has announced the first winner of its environmental reporting prize…
The state of the REDD+ carbon market in 2012 Logging, conversion to plantations and agriculture, and other drivers of deforestation account for roughly ten percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions…
In Redeeming REDD: Policies, Incentives and Social Feasibility for Avoided Deforestation, anthropologist Michael Brown relays a constructive critique of the contemporary aims, standards and modalities for mitigating climate change by…
Carbon credits generated from protecting thousands of hectares of endangered rainforest in northeastern Madagascar have now been certified for sale, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the project's main organizer.…
The Paiter-Suruí, a rainforest tribe that in June became the first indigenous group to generate REDD+ credits under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), has now closed their first deal. As…
Often misunderstood, REDD+ forest carbon offsets are a “must have” for any realistic climate-change mitigation strategy. Californians are known as innovation leaders, and once again, we are on the verge…
Infinite Earth, the developer behind Indonesia's first approved REDD+ project, has refuted an NGO's claims that the project has been only partially approved by the Indonesian government. In a statement…
Corruption and mismanagement in Indonesia’s forest sector have cost the government billions of dollars in losses in recent years, including over $7 billion in losses from 2007-2011, Human Rights Watch…
The Brazilian state of Pará has launched a new compensation scheme to incentivize further cuts in deforestation. Using a stipulation that allows Brazilian states to determine how a quarter of…
Rimba Raya, the world's largest REDD+ project, has finally been approved by the Indonesian government and verified under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), a leading certification standard for carbon credits.…
The market for carbon credits generated from projects that reduce deforestation and forest degradation — a climate change mitigation approach known as REDD+ — dipped eight percent in 2012 according…
In 2008, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) surprised the conservation world when it selected Mark Tercek, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, as its new president and CEO. For people familiar…
